Dan Southerland: Banned Writer Sheds Light on Tibet

Written by Dan Southerland, Executive Editor of Radio Free Asia (RFA), from RFA:

“Most of all I wish you courage,” the American poet Pam Brown wrote to her daughter decades ago. “That usually takes care of everything else.”

Courage is a defining trait in the life and work of the contemporary Tibetan poet Woeser.

A banned author inside China, Woeser—the name means Rays of Light in Tibetan—continues to write from her small apartment in Beijing not only poems, but also essays and reports on the current situation in Tibet.

She is under constant Chinese police surveillance.

Chinese authorities locked down Tibet following a major uprising against their rule that began in early March. Paramilitary police have now silenced the voices of protest in Tibet.

But Woeser, 42, still speaks out, publishing essays and poems on a blog hosted abroad.